Friday, December 03, 2010

Annual Police Terror

Lancashire's Chief Constable

I had to pick up my beloved after one of her many 'work's Christmas dos' last night, but to compensate she had won a nice bottle of top notch Vodka.

What wasn't so nice was seeing that the Annual Police Terror had begun with a vengeance. Central Lancaster resembled East Berlin in the Cold War with the goons scouring the place for a for an Osti heading West. Talk about overkill.

Then this morning there would have been police posted on the outskirts of the City Centre stopping people in an effort to catch somebody still over the limit from the night before Did they really join the police to do that kind of thing?

About four years ago I was stopped, in Lancaster surprise, surprise, for using my mobile while driving. I tried to claim I'd been scratching my ear but they didn't buy that, they actually had me on film. Fair cop, and luckily I did't smell of booze from the night before.

But I was pulled by two bobbies in a van with dogs in the back. I don't know what it costs to train and equip two police dog handlers but I would suggest that using them on a Friday morning to mither motorists is not good use of resources. Interestingly the bobby who gave me my ticket agreed with me when I mentioned that to him. He told me that he would prefer to spend his time more usefully but it was his 'higher ups' who made him do this, and he aplogised to me. It was the first time I'd been caught up in the Annual Police Terror and left feeling quite uplifted!

So be very careful if driving in Lancashire between now and Christmas, especially around Lancaster, the Terror has begun.